...Twenty one

"Karlie?"

"Karlie, oh my god.."

"Mhmmh.." I mumble, slowly opening my eyes. I feel a sharp pain running from my shoulders, all the way to the top of my head.


"Did.. did I.. do that?" I hear Taylor ask softly. I still have my eyes closed but I know she is looking at me. She touches my face with her cold fingers and traces the line of my jaw. I open my eyes slowly then and see her sad blue eyes staring at me. "Oh god, im so sorry.." She whispers, staring at my neck.

"Do you re-" I start my sentence but have to swallow a few times before my voice is actually audible. "Do you remember what happened?" I ask. Even talking hurts and so does every movement I make.

She nods slowly. "Yeah. I.. I couldn't contain myself though.. like.." She swallows hard and a tear rolls down her cheek. "It wasn't really me. Its like something took over.. I don't know what happened but.. it was.. horrible.."

I wipe the tear on her cheek away with my thumb and try to nod. "I know it wasn't you."

"Im so sorry.." She says, another tear escaping her eye.


"Its okay. It wasn't you." I say, my eyes closed again as the throbbing in my head just becomes too much.

I can feel that she lays down again, her head on my chest. It hurts but its also one of the nicest feelings I've felt in days. "Im really sorry." She whispers, pulling me closer to her as she wraps her arms around me. "Im sorry Karlie.."


"Its okay." I say softly, stroking her hair with my somehow painful hand. "Its not your fault."


"But it also is." She says, lifting her head up to look at me. I flinch at the sudden movement and let our a soft gasp of pain. "Oh god.. oh god.. sorry." She says, softly stroking my face again. "Sorry, sorry, sorry.."

"Tay.." I sigh. "Its not your fault. It wasn't you." I open my eyes to look into her worried ones. "Its okay. You're forgiven." I try smiling a small smile at her but soon notice it must look miserable since she isn't smiling back.

"Okay.." She sighs, laying her head down on my chest again really careful this time.

"What time is it?" I ask the blonde after a few minutes of silence. I open my eyes again, the sun is already brightly shining into the room so its probably later than it feels.


"10AM." Taylor says, lifting her head up from my chest again carefully. She gracefully hops off the bed and walks towards the bathroom area of the room, where the sun is shining through the huge windows. She stands still then, looking outside while she stands in the sun, enjoying its warmth. Its a beautiful sight really, its the closest to happy I have seen the girl in days.

"Its so sunny today huh?" I comment, sitting up and getting out of the bed a lot less graceful than the beautiful blonde creature just did.

"I love it." She says, a smile on her face as she looks outside. Its a smile I hadn't seen for way too long. A smile I have missed.


"Me too." I say. She looks at me then and flashes me a big smile, it falters a bit however when she looks down and sees my bruised neck. I walk over to the mirror to examine the damage and gasp when seeing myself. "Oh."

"Its so purple.." Taylor sighs. "Im so sorry Karlie, I-"

"Shhh" I interrupt her, turning around to face the blonde, worried, wolf-girl. "Not. Your. Fault." I say, tapping her nose after every word. She lets out a surprised, animal-like sound and shrugs her shoulders then.

Gosh Swift, you're just so damn cute.

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"KARLIE! Are you okay?!" Selena shouts loudly when seeing me in the hotel lobby.


"Shhh.. jeez.." I say, looking around to see if there are people watching us. I had tried to hide the bruises with a scarf but even then they were still visible. "Im okay." I say. "Was a bit rough yesterday but we're fine now." Taylor is standing next to me, nervously examining her friend with those scared, shining blue eyes. I put an arm around her and step a bit closer to her. She doesn't seem to mind as she steps closer to me too.

"Okay well.. if you say so then I suppose-"

"Morning suckers." A loud Cara interrupts. "Brought the keys away, got us some breakfast for on the way and well even some-" She stops and gasps when looking at me. "Okay what the fuck happened to you?!" She asks just as loud as Selena had just done a few seconds ago. Again I look around to see if someone heard it but the lobby seems pretty much empty and the staff members aren't even bothered to look at us.

Cara takes a few big steps towards me and carefully pulls the scarf down a bit, revealing the big, purple bruises underneath it. "Oh my god.." She gasps. She looks at Taylor for a second, who's eyes seem to start watering.

"I.. I didn't do.. do it on purpose.." She stutters, watching her friends nervously. "I.. it.. it wasn't me..I mean.. I.."

"Its okay." I say once more, squeezing her closer towards me. "Its okay." I look her in the eyes and try to calm the girl down, something changes then though as they turn dark all of the sudden and she frees herself from my grip. She steps backwards, a low growl escaping her mouth and walks out of the lobby with the backpack in her hand.

I look outside through the glass doors and see that clouds are yet again, floating in front of the warm ball that is the sun. "Ughh.." I sigh. 'This morning was so good.. why the stupid clouds? Why?' I think to myself when realising that Cara is talking to me.

"Hello? Are you here?" She says, her thick eyebrows furrowed together. "Tell us what the hell happened.."

"Well.." I say calmly. "She wildened again and it was worse than before.. a lot worse."

Both women nod in understanding and Selena then searches through her bag for god knows what. "Here." She says, handing me a tube with some kind of cream. "Should get the purple away and a bit of the pain too."


"Thanks." I tell her, a small smile on my face. This girl is the sweetest. 

"Think you can drive?" Cara asks then. "I mean.. must hurt a lot."

"Oh yeah.. well I think I can.. I mean-"

"I will drive with Taylor, you can drive with Cara." Selena says to me as Cara picks all the bags up and starts walking out of the lobby. 

"Are you sure? I mean you really don't have to.."

"100% sure girl." Selena says, a smile on her face as she picks her small bag up and follows Cara.

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"Two hours still." Cara says, looking over at me shortly. 

We have been driving on a muddy path for about three hours and I have to say, my neck but also my butt is done with this stupid bumpy road.


"Thank god." I mumble, making Cara giggle softly. The girl opens a cabinet on her left and fishes a can of coke out of there. "Want one?" She asks.

I raise my eyebrows. "Yes please." She hands it over to me and I realise its ice cold. "Please tell me you did not build a mini fridge over there." I say, a smile on my face as I point over to her side. 

She lets out a loud laugh before taking another can of coke out and closing the fridge with a bang. "Oh yes I did."

I laugh, hurting myself in the process. The cream helps, it does, I mean it probably does, but my neck still hurts like hell. We both open our cans of soda and take big gulps of the substance made in heaven. 


"Aaahhh.." She sighs contently, putting the can in some kind of build-in holder next to the poke.


"This truck is awesome." I say, really looking around in the old thing for the first time. Its all black on the inside, except for the brand new looking, silver radio system in the middle of the dashboard. It has several buttons which I don't even know what they're for and well, it has a build-in mini fridge, which is pretty damn awesome.

"Thanks. Now lets play some music." Cara says, noticing my amazement. The vampire leans forward, presses a few buttons on the radio before loud hip-hop beats fill the car. We shout with all of the songs as loud as we can and I even feel myself move to the beat with my body a bit. We laugh and scream and Cara pulls angry faces every times she raps a part of a song. After a few minutes already, I have tears in my eyes from laughter. It has been a long while since I really had fun. Genuine fun.

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"This is it? All this driving for this tiny thing that they call a river?" Cara says, pointing down at the small creek slowly flowing underneath the bridge were walking on.


"No dumbass." Taylor huffs as a response. "Its at least a 30 mile walk still."

"Oh." Cara says, her hand scratching the back of her neck as she does so.


Taylor is leading the way, seeming to know where we have to go. We have been walking for about two hours since we have parked the trucks and lets just say that it hasn't been the happiest walk until now. Its raining softly and there is no sun to be seen, which means that Taylor's mood is the worst it can be without her wildening. Lets just say its horrible.

"Tay, you're walking so fast. We can.. we can barely keep up." Selena says hesitantly.

"Well.. just stay here then." Taylor snaps at her, turning around quickly to face her. "You're not of any use anywa-"

I grab Taylor's arm to make her stop walking towards a very scared looking Selena. "Tay.." I warn my girlfriend. "Stop." Cara's angry eyes are boring into Taylor's skull then and the two women make eye contact.

"Shut up." Cara says as a low hiss escapes her mouth. Her sharp fangs are slightly visible as she is now standing in front of the dark haired woman, protecting her.


"Or else?" Taylor asks, a sly grin on her face.


"Oh ill show you, Taylor. You better fucking stop." Cara wars.

"Tay.. come on." I say, pulling her closer towards me. "Let it go.. please?" I practically beg her. She looks at me for a second and then shakes her arm out of my grip. For a second I think she is going to attack the vampire standing in front of Selena, but she then turns around and walks along the pathway rapidly again.

We all let out long, deep, sighs. All done with this insane situation. We all know that this isn't the real Taylor, that the real Taylor is always sweet, considerate, gentle, funny and kind. This is nothing like her and its exhausting all of us.

"Sorry.. I let myself go." Cara says to me. "I know that this isn't who she really is."


"Its okay. I know how frustrating it can be." I say. Cara nods and we share a small, sympathetic look before we follow the blonde again, who is already at least half a mile in front of us.


"Lets just let her cool down, give her some space." Selena says, being the most rational one of us all.

Cara and I nod and like that, we all continue our journey to the cloudy river. The place where all of this should end.

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"Maybe we don't have to destroy it." Taylor says, a worried look on her face as she looks at me.


The two of us are sitting on a big rock, taking a break from the long walk. Cara and Selena are sitting on the grass, a few metres ahead, talking to one another. The sun has broken through a bit and is shining down on us.

I look at Taylor with a shocked expression on my face. "What do you mean we don't have to destroy it?" I ask, my eyes wide. "Of course we do."

"Well.." The blonde starts, looking at the sky instead of me and enjoying the sun with her eyes closed. "Right now im fine." She says, sitting back comfortably.


"Taylor.. the sun is shining.. its logical that you're fine now. You're not going to be fine later." I say, I take the backpack from the ground. "We have to destroy this."


She snatches it from my hands, her eyes turning slightly darker as she does so, but they soon return to their original, light blue color. "Well.. I don't want to."

I snatch it back out of her hands, the bag containing the crown, now in my hands. "Were going to destroy it before it destroys you." I say. "Because its already doing a pretty good job."

She huffs at me and then gets up. When I look up at the sky, I see that the sun has disappeared and has made place for dark, grey clouds. I look at Taylor then, who is walking away from me, already continuing her journey on the path to the river.

"God dammit Tay.." I whisper, looking at the ground in defeat. This crown is destroying her, its eating her alive and we need to make sure it will be destroyed forever and always.


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An hour later:

"Finally!" Cara shouts as we reach our destination after an exhausting walk.

"I now understand why they call it the cloudy river." I mumble, watching how fast the water in the river is flowing and how thick the mist is, that hangs above the water.

"Lets do this." Selena says then, walking over to the waterside. Cara and I both follow her until we both realise something.

"Wait, where is Taylor?" I say as I quickly look around to scan our surroundings. The blonde is nowhere to be seen and I fear the worst. A loud howl sounds from close by then and we all immediately know who it is.

"There.." Cara stammers, seeing what everyone else is seeing too.

"Fuck." I mumble. "Fuck, fuck, fuck.. guys.. run.. now."


Taylor has shifted into her wolf form, but not her normal one. This time her fur is this dark grey color that reminds me too much of someone. Her sharp teeth are showing as she is growling lowly at us, stepping closer and closer every second.


"Now. GO!" I repeat myself as I hear Selena shift and run while Cara flies away quickly. 

"She will kill you, Karlie.." I hear Cara shout from up above. 

"She wont." I reply quickly. Taylor once again lets out a low growl, her red eyes boring into my body as she gets closer and closer to me. When she's only a couple of metres away, I quickly shift into my wolf form too.

"Taylor.. Taylor, baby.. its me.. you know who I am. You don't have to hurt me, you're stronger than that." I say as calm as I can. "Come on, calm down okay? Try to calm down."


All that comes out of the big grey wolf's mouth is a loud growl however since she takes a big jump towards me and lands right on top of me me, her nails digging deep in my skin already. I groan in pain.


"Holy shit!" I hear Cara shout. Taylor scratches my back with her nails then, I feel the pain shooting through all of my body, but I stay strong. Its not really her Karlie. Just hold on. We start fighting while both laying on the ground, she mostly paining me while I just try to get her away from me.

"Taylor.. please.." I beg the wild wolf. "Its me.. you're hurting me.."


Her eyes turn blue for a second before they turn back to their, scary red color and she scratches me again, right in the face.

"SELENA!" I shout loudly then. "THE CROWN! GET THE CROWN!" I hear the brown wolf take off and run towards the place where Taylor must have left the backpack. A few seconds later, she returns with the bag in her mouth. In the meantime I have managed to get out of Taylor's grip and run towards the waterside, quickly breaking right before falling into the water, making Taylor tumble in. 

"CARA! NOW!" I growl, realising that Cara doesn't understand a word im saying but that she must know what I mean. The vampire takes both the crown and the potion out of the bag and quickly runs over to the waterside too. Taylor is still in the water, trying to get out of it but since the side is pretty high up, she is struggling.

"Sorry Tay.." I hear Selena mumble as she pushes her friend down again so she wont get out. Cara has reaches the waterside now and I shift back into my human form while Selena keeps an eye on the wild, grey wolf in the water.


"Pour the potion over both the crown and her and then throw the crown in the river!" I say in a fast pace. Cara quickly nods and I take the crown from her.


"Now!" I shout. Selena gives Taylor one last push into the river, Cara pours the pink lotion over the crown and then over Taylor and throws the material into the river. The whole river turns pink then, the water, the steam above it and even the bottom. It then turns into multiple colours. Red, blue, green, yellow and eventually pink again. Taylor lets out a loud growl and a white flash, blindes our eyes.


"IT HURTS!" I hear Taylor scream then. "KARLIE IT HURTS!"

"Oh my god.." I whisper, getting closer to the waterside to jump in but Selena grabs my arm.

"NO!" She shouts. "You will take all the hate inside of your body if you even touch that water. We have to wait, she will be okay." She says. And with that, the three of us take a step back. I lay down on the moisty grass and cover my ears with my hands, not able to take Taylor's screaming.

"IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP! KARLIE HELP ME! KARLIE!"

After about a minute, which felt like hours for all of us, the screaming finally stops. 

"Taylor?" I say softly, not sure what to expect. "Tay?"

I get up and run over to the place where the girl had just been pushed in. "TAYLOR?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" I look around the water, in search for the blonde woman, but see nothing but water and steam. "TAY?!"

The water starts to ripple then and suddenly a head pops to the surface, gasping for air. "OH MY GOD, TAY!" I shout, sticking my hand out towards her. The strong water almost pulls her away but im just in time to grab her hand and pull her on land. She is gasping for air and breathes so fast that I wonder if she even gets any oxygen in. Cara and Selena quickly make their way over and I hear them gasp at the same time.

I realise then that she is completely naked.

"Oh shit." I say, quickly taking my coat off to cover her cold body. I help her sit up and sit down next to her, taking my scarf off too, putting it around her. Its good that the snow has finally melted a few days ago and that its slightly warmer than before. Her lips are blue from the cold however and her face looks extremely pale. She lays her head on my shoulder and I pull her even closer towards me, wanting to warm the poor girl up.

Cara and Selena give us some space and walk away back to the path together, leaving us alone.

"Baby, are you okay?" I ask softly, when hear breathing has become a bit more steady.

I feel her nod against my shoulder as she hums an "Mhmm..".

"Im so sorry you had to go through all of this.." I say. "You don't deserve any of that."

She stays quiet and I let her be for a bit. We just sit there then, watching the river flow in silence.

"Karlie?" She asks then, her voice weak.

"Yes?" I answer, kissing the top of her head.


"Is it all over now?" She asks.

I sigh.

"Yes, its all over now." I say softly, tracing patterns on her bare arm.

"Will I be okay?" She asks then, her voice cracking.

"You will be okay."


"Are you sure? Wont I hurt anyone anymore?" She asks, lifting her head up from my shoulder and looking at me with those sad and scared blue eyes.

"You wont hurt anyone anymore, Taylor." I reassure her, kissing her cheek sofly.

"Im sorry.. for doing that.." She mumbles then, not once looking away from me while tears start making their way down her cheeks. "Im so sorry.." She sobs, laying her head on my shoulder once more.

"Its okay.." I whisper to her, trying to comfort her. "Its okay. You're okay."

'It is going to take a while before she will be okay again..' I think as I kiss the top of the girl's head again. 'But she is going to be okay.'

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HI!

FINALLY! TAY IS SAVED! Well hopefully! 

Hope you liked it? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, let me know?

X